Method of self-contained recycling of pharmaceutical containers

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a system and method of recycling of a pharmaceutical container system, which can include the container and closure for the container. The disclosure teaches a self-contained recycling system wherein the pharmaceutical containers that are made for consumer use are returned for processing and remanufacturing as new unused pharmaceutical containers to facilitate the ease of recycling of the same and the future use as unused pharmaceutical containers and viable consumer products.

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the reproduction of the patent document or the patentdisclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patentfile or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to recycling. More particularlythe present invention relates to a system and method of substantiallyclosed looped recycling pharmaceutical containers and caps that are partof a pharmaceutical system.

The pharmaceutical prescription industry is a multi-billion dollarindustry that is facilitated by multiple industries. Obviously, thespecific pharmaceutical manufacturing companies supply thepharmaceuticals to various distribution points or centers, includingpharmacies, mail order companies, internet companies, and the like. Thepharmaceuticals are then packaged in pharmaceutical containers forsupply or delivery to the ultimate consumer the patient. As the industryhas grown over the years there are literally millions of pharmaceuticalcontainer systems, including generally the container and cap used toseal the container, that are supplied on a monthly basis.

This supply in light of the continuously dwindling natural resources aswell as the desire to recycle, reuse and reduce the use of those naturalresources has led to recycling of the pharmaceutical container systems.This recycling is in its infancy due to recycling issues associated withpharmaceutical containers and various regulatory hurdles that deal withpatient information and the remnant elements of the pharmaceuticalswithin those containers.

Heretofore, the recycling of pharmaceutical containers has beenrudimentary, at best, relying on the conventional recycling processeswherein general plastic containers, as opposed to specificallypharmaceutical containers, are collected by an individual or at alocation after use. Those general plastic containers are then returnedto a processing facility as a collection of various grades, and sometimevarious families, of plastic. Under this conventional collectionprocess, the plastic is typically collected, maintained, and returned ina comingled form wherein various types and grades of plastics arecomingled within the same return shipment.

This comingled recycling can further complicate the potentialcontamination issues and reduce the future use of certain preformedplastic grades. This is because at the recycling facility various gradesof plastic containers within the same plastic family are typicallycombined and recycled without true regard to the various end productsthat will be produced from that plastic or the end users of thatrecycled plastic material. More typically, however, various recyclingfacilities will only take a single grade or one of a couple grades ofplastic material within a given family. These grades or material arethen recycled and processed into a varying array of consumer goodswithout consideration of the various aspects or characteristics of theoriginal plastic that is recycled.

Within each plastic resin family there are various grades and types ofresins that comprise that family. Various types of those resins are usedfor varying applications. For example, some types can be used for filmapplications, some for extrusion molding, some for thermal forming andstill others for injection molding. Each type of resin within a familywill have different performance characteristics and physical propertiesthat affect how that resin reacts and performs. An addition to thesecharacteristics and physical properties, there can be various additives,clarifiers, nucleators, and other grade and application specificformulas that are added into a resin to facilitate that resin's use fora particular application within a particular grade and for a particularresin family.

The common resin families include high density polyethylene (HDPE),polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Typically acurrent recycling systems lump various grades of a family of plasticresin together for recycling purposes. As such, conventionally within aparticular family the same grade of plastic is recycled togetherregardless of its additional additives and other items that werespecifically added to various subsets of that grade for the specificformulas. Thus, this creates a problem when trying to use recycledplastics for specific applications.

For example, recycled HDPE plastic from milk jugs, shampoo bottles, ordetergent containers, while they may be in the same class and resinfamily, are not generally viable materials used to make HDPE bottles forpackaging pharmaceuticals. The HDPE resin as modified to form the milkjugs, shampoo bottles, or detergent containers has differentcharacteristics and additives, or usually lacks the same of additives,as the type and grade of HDPE used for pharmaceutical containers. Assuch, the “common household” HDPE recycling containers cannot beprocessed and controlled properly during the recycling process such thatthe resulting flake of pellets can be directly used to makepharmaceutical containers. Further, the process used to makepharmaceutical containers is different from the extrusion, thermalforming, injecting, or film applications and production methods forother common household plastic products within the HDPE family andclassification. This is also true for materials in the PP and PET resinfamilies.

Additionally, pharmaceutical containers require specific grades ofplastic and specific additives to those grades of plastic in order topass Federal Drug Administrative (FDA) approval. Without these additivesand additions the pharmaceutical containers are not certified for use aspharmaceutical containers. As such, the pharmaceutical containerindustry typically requires additional processing of the containers notnormally required for a standard drink bottle or similar grade plasticitem. These additional characteristics are not conventionally consideredto recycling. As such, the typical recycling facility does not lenditself to the recycling of pharmaceutical containers due to theiradditional complication and requirements for manufacturing andproduction into a consumer usable product.

As such, specifically in the recycling process of pharmaceutical systemsincluding containers and caps, there is a shortcoming that leads toinadequate processing of the used pharmaceutical container systems intonew pharmaceutical container systems adequate for consumer use.

What is needed then is a system and method of recycling pharmaceuticalcontainer systems to increase the likelihood of recycling of thosecontainers and caps and ease the actual recycling of the same into newunused pharmaceutical containers and caps. This needed system and methodis lacking in the art.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Disclosed herein is a system and method of recycling of a pharmaceuticalcontainer system, which can include the container and closure for thecontainer. The disclosure teaches a self-contained recycling systemwherein the pharmaceutical containers that are made for consumer use arereturned for processing and remanufacturing as new unused pharmaceuticalcontainers to facilitate the ease of recycling of the same and thefuture use as unused pharmaceutical containers and viable consumerproducts.

A method of recycling the pharmaceutical containers includes providing afacility for the distribution of unused pharmaceutical containers andacceptance of used pharmaceutical containers. The method furtherincludes delivering unused pharmaceutical containers from the facilityto a pharmaceutical distribution location, such as a pharmacy, using afirst delivery system and providing a collection system for collectingused pharmaceutical containers at the pharmacy. The method also includesdelivering the used pharmaceutical containers collected from thepharmacy to the facility using a second delivery system. Additionally,the method includes converting unused pharmaceutical containers at thefacility into ground material and forming unused pharmaceuticalcontainers from the ground material.

The method could further include providing the material that comprisesthe ground material and the pharmaceutical containers and maintainingthat material between the ground material and the pharmaceuticalcontainers for all of the used pharmaceutical containers collected atthe pharmacy. This ground material includes a material grade sufficientfor pharmaceutical containers and when forming unused pharmaceuticalcontainers from the ground material, the method teaches the addition ofonly matter that includes material grades sufficient for pharmaceuticalcontainers.

A method of recycling pharmaceutical container system made of resin bymanufacturers is also taught. This method comprises providing unusedpharmaceutical container systems and delivering those unusedpharmaceutical container systems to a pharmaceutical distributionlocation, such as a pharmacy, using a delivery system. Next, acollection device is provided for collecting used pharmaceuticalcontainer systems at the pharmacy and the used pharmaceutical containersystems are delivered from the pharmacy to the manufacturer using thesame delivery system. Next, the used pharmaceutical containers arerecycled directly into unused pharmaceutical container systems.

Also included is a method of recycling pharmaceutical containerscomprising supplying unused pharmaceutical containers formed fromplastic resin and delivering the unused pharmaceutical containers. Themethod includes providing a collection system for collecting usedpharmaceutical containers and receiving the collected usedpharmaceutical containers. In addition, the method includes recyclingthe used pharmaceutical containers into unused pharmaceutical containersby converting all of the collected used pharmaceutical containers intoground material and forming the unused pharmaceutical containers fromthe ground material. The method can further include maintaining thematerial comprising the ground material and the pharmaceuticalcontainers in a product cycle between the ground material and thepharmaceutical containers once the material is in plastic resin form.

It is therefore a general object of the present disclosure to provide amethod and system of recycling pharmaceutical containers.

Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a method andsystem of recycling pharmaceutical containers that maintains returnedused pharmaceutical containers in a cycling system between groundmaterial and pharmaceutical containers.

Still another object of the present disclosure is to provide a recyclingmethod and system that separates pharmaceutical containers and maintainsthose containers in isolated recycling, production, and distributionsystems between a used pharmaceutical container and an unusedpharmaceutical container.

Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide a method andsystem for controlled recycling of pharmaceutical containers.

Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide a methodand system for recycling pharmaceutical containers that maintains theplastic resin used to form the pharmaceutical containers in a plasticgrade and state from the initial formation of a pharmaceutical containerthrough a recycling phase to subsequent formation of a pharmaceuticalcontainer isolated from other grades and plastic resins that will beused on non-pharmaceutical container products.

Other and further objects, features and advantages of the presentdisclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art uponreading of the following disclosure when taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a flow chart of an example of a methodology taught inaccordance with the current disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of an alternate example of a methodologytaught in accordance with the current disclosure.

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart of an alternate example of a methodologytaught in accordance with the current disclosure.

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart of another example of a methodology taught inaccordance with the current disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Disclosed herein is a system and method of recycling pharmaceuticalcontainer systems. The system and method includes facilitating thereturn of pharmaceutical containers and closures for recycling andmaintaining those pharmaceutical containers and closures in a recyclingprocess isolated from other plastic recyclables in order to convert theused pharmaceutical containers and closures back into unusedpharmaceutical containers.

A method of recycling pharmaceutical systems including containers andcaps comprises providing a facility for the distribution of unusedpharmaceutical containers and the acceptance of used pharmaceuticalcontainers. The unused pharmaceutical containers can be several types.For example the unused pharmaceutical containers can be those containersthat will house the pharmaceuticals in bulk at the pharmaceuticaldispensing location, which can be a pharmacy, mail order distributionfacility, internet distribution facility or the like. Additionally, theunused pharmaceutical containers can be those pharmaceutical containersthat will house the pharmaceuticals as they are provided to a patientfor which the pharmaceutical within the container is prescribed.

Additionally, the method will include delivering the unusedpharmaceutical containers from the facility to a pharmaceuticaldistribution location using a first delivery system. A first deliverysystem can include systems known in the art to physically transportmaterials including automobile, rail, airplane, and mail deliverysystems. The method can further include providing a collection systemfor collecting the used pharmaceutical containers at the pharmaceuticaldistribution location. This collection system can include various areasand contain devices known in the art to hold the used pharmaceuticalcontainers, including kiosk, bin, crates, and the like.

The method further includes delivering the used pharmaceuticalcontainers collected from the pharmaceutical distribution location tothe facility using a second delivery system. This second delivery systemcan include those various types of delivery systems mentioned before.This second delivery system can also be the same delivery system as thefirst delivery system. For example, the first and second deliverysystems can be a delivery vehicle, such as a truck, train, airplane, andthe like, that is used to deliver unused pharmaceutical containers tothe pharmaceutical distribution location. As that delivery vehicle makesa delivery at one of the pharmaceutical distribution locations, it canpick up the used pharmaceutical containers and transport those usedpharmaceutical containers back to the facility. This is furtherfacilitated by the fact that a single delivery vehicle can start with aninventory of unused pharmaceutical containers in its holding area, suchas a bay or a bed, and as those unused pharmaceutical containers aredelivered, it can collect the used pharmaceutical containers. Thisfacilitates a use of transportation and delivery modes such that thedelivery vehicles are preferably not empty and are doing a continuousdrop off and pick up process during its route as that delivery vehiclevisits various pharmaceutical distribution locations.

The method further includes converting the used pharmaceuticalcontainers at the facility into ground material and forming unusedpharmaceutical containers from the ground material. The method includesmaintaining any returned used pharmaceutical containers isolated fromother recycled plastic such that the returned used pharmaceuticalcontainers are directly recycled into unused pharmaceutical containers.The concept of directly recycled does include the addition of plasticresin that has been previously unused in the formation of any type ofplastic item, which can be described as virgin plastic resin. Thisvirgin plastic resin and the ground material from the unusedpharmaceutical containers can be combined as needed on a volumetricbasis to form new unused pharmaceutical containers.

In this recycling, ground material can be various forms of material thatis produced from the cutting and/or grinding of containers into smallparticles. Typically, ground material can encompass the conversion ofpharmaceutical containers into multiple recyclable forms including, butnot limited to, flake material and pellet material, as known in the art.These flake and pellet materials can then be processed to form newpharmaceutical containers and a close cycle of recycling that drawsdirectly from used pharmaceutical containers and processes those usedpharmaceutical containers through the ground material, i.e. flakes orpellets, into new unused pharmaceutical containers.

The recycling portion of a method, which can include the converting ofthe used pharmaceutical containers into the ground material and formingunused pharmaceutical containers from that ground material, can alsoinclude selling the ground material to a third party wherein that thirdparty forms unused pharmaceutical containers. This third party canpreferably be in the pharmaceutical container forming business, can bedescribed as a manufacturer of pharmaceutical containers.

During the recycling process as taught, this method can include thepurifying and reprocessing of a ground material before forming unusedpharmaceutical containers. This purifying and reprocessing preferablymeets FDA guidelines, as applicable, in order to produce pharmaceuticalcontainers that comply with FDA regulations, namely FDA regulations forresin used in direct, food and drug contact applications. Additionally,the containers made from that ground material must also meet UnitedStates Pharmacopeia (USP) regulations for containers used for thestorage and dispensing of pharmaceutical products.

In this method a single manufacturer can provide the unusedpharmaceutical containers to facilitate the delivery of those containersand assist with the collection of the used pharmaceutical containers.This manufacturer can also convert the used pharmaceutical containersinto ground material and form unused pharmaceutical containerstherefrom. A third party, such as a plastics refinery and the like, canpurify and reprocess the ground material before it is formed intopharmaceutical containers by the manufacturer. Alternately, themanufacturer can use a third party to deliver and collect and return thepharmaceutical containers between the pharmaceutical delivery locationand the manufacturer for recycling and subsequent production as unusedpharmaceutical containers.

Various forms of plastics can be used with this method, including highdensity polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate andother similar plastic types used in the production of pharmaceuticalcontainers.

In this method the facility as provided by an entity, such as themanufacturer, can include a first location that is used for delivery ofthe unused pharmaceutical containers and a second location for thedelivery of used pharmaceutical containers. In some instances, the firstlocation and second location can be at the same building and/orlocation, namely a delivery area, delivery dock, loading dock, bay andthe like.

In a preferred embodiment of this method, the material that comprisesthe ground material and the pharmaceutical containers is maintainedbetween those states of matter such that the material is either inpharmaceutical container form or in ground material form. This iseffective for the used pharmaceutical containers that are collected atthe pharmaceutical distribution location such that those collected usedpharmaceutical containers are returned, and recycled. Again therecycling can be converting the used pharmaceutical containers firstinto ground material and then forming the ground material into unusedpharmaceutical containers that will then be redistributed into thepharmaceutical industry and used to store, contain, and deliverpharmaceuticals.

In this usage the term “matter” can include the plastic resin in itsvarious forms that is used to directly create pharmaceutical containers.For example, this can be the virgin plastic resin having thecharacteristics that are conducive to forming that resin intopharmaceutical containers. This matter can also be maintained betweenthe two states of used and unused pharmaceutical containers as thesecontainers are shipped between the facility and the pharmaceuticaldelivery location.

Additionally, this method teaches maintaining the ground material in asubstantially closed loop environment during the recycling process. Forexample, the method includes using ground material that has a materialgrade sufficient for pharmaceutical containers. This ground material canbe supplemented by plastic resin, such as virgin resin, having a similarmaterial grade that is sufficient for pharmaceutical containers. Thisground material and virgin resin can be used to form the unusedpharmaceutical containers such that the only matter that is included inthe formation of these unused pharmaceutical containers is matter thatincludes material grade sufficient for that purpose. This caneffectively eliminate the comingling of other plastic resin types,whether recycled or in virgin form, from the method taught herein. Thismethod then becomes a substantially closed loop recycling method whereinall used pharmaceutical containers returned remain in a recycling andmanufacturing process such that only new pharmaceutical containers willbe formed therefrom.

The conversion of the used pharmaceutical containers into groundmaterial can include the use of a grinding apparatus at thepharmaceutical shipping distribution location, such as a pharmacy. Thatgrinding apparatus can convert the used pharmaceutical containers systemcontainers into ground material before they are delivered back to themanufacturer, or third party processing facility.

This method teaches providing the resin that comprises thepharmaceutical containers systems and eventually the ground material andmaintaining that resin between the used pharmaceutical container systemand the unused pharmaceutical container system for all usedpharmaceutical container systems collected. Effectively, again, thissubstantially closed cycle recycling method results in recycling ofcollected pharmaceutical container systems into new pharmaceuticalcontainer systems with preferably the only addition being the influx ofnew, and never before used, plastic resin into the recycling loop.

Additionally, the methods taught herein can include a collection systemthat incentivizes the collection of used pharmaceutical containers. Forexample, a manufacturer and/or resin processing company can subsidize orbuy the used pharmaceutical containers from a pharmaceuticaldistribution center as those used pharmaceutical containers are returnedby the patients that used them. These incentives can take many formssuch as the purchasing of equipment to grind the containers into groundmaterial to convert the containers into ground material, discounts onfuture orders, outright payment for the used pharmaceutical containers,and the like.

Thus, although there have been described particular embodiments of thepresent invention of a new and useful “Method of Self-ContainedRecycling of Pharmaceutical Containers” it is not intended that suchreferences be construed as limitations upon the scope of this inventionexcept as set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of recycling pharmaceutical containerscomprising: (a) providing a facility for the distribution of unusedpharmaceutical containers that comply with Federal Drug Administrationand United States Pharmacopeia regulations for containers used for thestorage and dispensing of pharmaceutical products and the acceptance ofused pharmaceutical containers, the unused pharmaceutical containersincluding unused recycled pharmaceutical containers made at least inpart from the used pharmaceutical containers; (b) delivering unusedpharmaceutical containers from the facility to one of a plurality ofpharmacies using a first delivery system; (c) providing a collectionsystem for collecting used pharmaceutical containers having patientinformation printed thereon at the plurality of pharmacies; (d)delivering the used pharmaceutical containers collected from theplurality of pharmacies to the facility using a second delivery system;(e) converting at the facility the used pharmaceutical containers intoground material having a material grade sufficient for pharmaceuticalcontainers; (f) forming unused recycled pharmaceutical containers fromthe ground material; and (g) repeating steps (b)-(f) to provide aclosed-loop recycling program wherein the used pharmaceutical containerscollected from the plurality of pharmacies are isolated from otherplastic recyclables such that the used pharmaceutical containers aredirectly recycled into unused pharmaceutical containers that comply withFederal Drug Administration and United States Pharmacopeia regulationsfor containers used for the storage and dispensing of pharmaceuticalproducts.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the forming includes sellingthe ground material to a third party to form unused recycledpharmaceutical containers.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the formingincludes purifying and reprocessing the ground material before formingthe unused recycled pharmaceutical containers.
 4. The method of claim 3,wherein the providing, delivering, converting and forming steps areperformed by a manufacturer of the unused pharmaceutical containers andthe unused recycled pharmaceutical containers while the purifying andreprocessing the ground material is performed by another party.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, further including providing the matter that comprisesthe ground material and the pharmaceutical containers and maintainingthat matter between the ground material and the pharmaceuticalcontainers for all of the used pharmaceutical containers collected atthe pharmacy.
 6. The method of claim 1, further including providing thematter that comprises the ground material and the pharmaceuticalcontainers and maintaining that matter between the ground material andthe pharmaceutical containers as the used pharmaceutical containers andunused pharmaceutical containers are delivered between the facility andthe pharmacy.
 7. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of formingunused pharmaceutical containers from the ground material includes theaddition of only matter that also includes a material grade sufficientfor pharmaceutical containers.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein theused pharmaceutical containers and the unused pharmaceutical containersare composed of high density polyethylene.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein the used pharmaceutical containers and the unused pharmaceuticalcontainers are composed of polypropylene.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein the used pharmaceutical containers and the unused pharmaceuticalcontainers are composed of polyethylene terephthalate.
 11. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the used pharmaceutical containers and the unusedpharmaceutical containers are composed of material selected from thegroup containing high density polyethylene, polypropylene, andpolyethylene terephthalate.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein thefacility includes a first location used for the delivery of unusedpharmaceutical containers and a second location for the delivery of usedpharmaceutical containers.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstlocation and the second location at the facility are the same building.14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first delivery system and thesecond delivery system are the same delivery system.
 15. A method ofrecycling pharmaceutical container systems made of resin by amanufacturer, the method comprising: (a) providing unused pharmaceuticalcontainer systems that comply with Federal Drug Administration andUnited States Pharmacopeia regulations for containers used for thestorage and dispensing of pharmaceutical products, the unusedpharmaceutical containers including unused recycled pharmaceuticalcontainers made at least in part from used pharmaceutical containers;(b) delivering unused pharmaceutical container systems to one of aplurality of pharmacies using a delivery system; (c) providing acollection device for collecting used pharmaceutical container systemshaving patient information printed thereon at the plurality ofpharmacies; (d) delivering the used pharmaceutical container systemsfrom the plurality of pharmacies to the manufacturer; (e) recycling theused pharmaceutical container systems into unused recycledpharmaceutical container systems; and (f) repeating steps (b)-(e) toprovide a closed-loop recycling program wherein the used pharmaceuticalcontainer systems collected from the plurality of pharmacies areisolated from other plastic recyclables such that the usedpharmaceutical container systems are directly recycled into unusedpharmaceutical container systems that comply with Federal DrugAdministration and United States Pharmacopeia regulations for containersystems used for the storage and dispensing of pharmaceutical products.16. The method of claim 15, wherein the recycling includes convertingthe used pharmaceutical container systems into ground material andforming unused pharmaceutical container systems from the groundmaterial.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein the recycling includesproviding a grinding apparatus at the pharmacy to convert the usedpharmaceutical container systems into ground material before deliveringfrom the pharmacy to the manufacturer.
 18. The method of claim 15,wherein the steps of delivering of unused pharmaceutical containersystems and delivering used pharmaceutical container systems includesusing a delivery vehicle to concurrently transport both.
 19. The methodof claim 15, further including maintaining the resin used to make thepharmaceutical container systems in a continuous, closed loop productcycle between the unused pharmaceutical container systems and the usedpharmaceutical container systems for all used pharmaceutical containersystems collected.
 20. The method of claim 15, further includingproviding the resin that comprises the ground material andpharmaceutical container systems and maintaining that resin between theused pharmaceutical container systems and the unused pharmaceuticalcontainer systems for all used pharmaceutical container systemscollected.
 21. The method of claim 15, wherein the used pharmaceuticalcontainer systems and the unused pharmaceutical container systems arecomposed of material selected from the group containing high densitypolyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate or polypropylene.
 22. Themethod of claim 15, wherein the pharmaceutical container systems includepharmaceutical containers.
 23. The method of claim 15, wherein thepharmaceutical container systems include pharmaceutical container caps.24. A method of recycling pharmaceutical containers, the methodcomprising: a. supplying unused pharmaceutical containers formed fromplastic resin that comply with Federal Drug Administration and UnitedStates Pharmacopeia regulations for containers used for the storage anddispensing of pharmaceutical products, the unused pharmaceuticalcontainers including unused recycled pharmaceutical containers made atleast in part from used pharmaceutical containers; b. delivering theunused pharmaceutical containers to one of a plurality of pharmacies; c.providing a collection system at the plurality of pharmacies forcollecting used pharmaceutical containers having patient informationprinted thereon and converting the used pharmaceutical container systemsinto ground material having a material grade sufficient forpharmaceutical containers; d. receiving the ground material from thepharmacy; e. recycling the used pharmaceutical containers into unusedpharmaceutical containers by purifying and reprocessing the groundmaterial and forming unused recycled pharmaceutical containers from theground material; f. repeating steps b-e to provide a closed-looprecycling program wherein the used pharmaceutical containers collectedfrom the plurality of pharmacies are isolated from other plasticrecyclables such that the used pharmaceutical containers are directlyrecycled into unused pharmaceutical containers that comply with FederalDrug Administration and United States Pharmacopeia regulations forcontainers used for the storage and dispensing of pharmaceuticalproducts.
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the steps of delivering ofunused pharmaceutical containers and receiving used pharmaceuticalcontainers includes using the same delivery system.
 26. The method ofclaim 25, wherein the steps of delivering of unused pharmaceuticalcontainers and receiving used pharmaceutical containers includes using adelivery vehicle to transport both.
 27. The method of claim 24, furtherincluding maintaining the material comprising the ground material andthe pharmaceutical containers in a product cycle between the groundmaterial and the pharmaceutical containers.
 28. The method of claim 24,wherein the ground material is only used for forming pharmaceuticalcontainers.
 29. The method of claim 24, wherein the ground material iscomposed of high density polyethylene.
 30. The method of claim 24,wherein the ground material is composed of polypropylene.
 31. The methodof claim 24, wherein the ground material is composed of polyethyleneterephthalate.
 32. The method of claim 24, wherein the delivering andreceiving step are accomplished by mailing.
 33. The method of claim 24,wherein the collection system includes incentivizing the collection ofused pharmaceutical containers.
 34. The method of claim 15 wherein step(d) further includes delivering the used pharmaceutical containersystems from the manufacturer to a facility for converting at thefacility the used pharmaceutical containers into ground material havinga material grade sufficient for pharmaceutical containers.
 35. Themethod of claim 34 wherein step (d) further includes delivering theground material to the manufacturer.